The Joann’s nearest to where I live recently started stocking a ton of fun elastic! When I saw this display, I just had to buy some elastic and make some of my own hair ties!

The elastic I bought will be doing double duty.

I’ll be making some hair ties and some planner bands to keep my planner shut.

I was sure to buy elastic colors that would coordinate nicely with my planner but also with my outfits!

The first thing I did was measure a hair tie I already had. I believe this one is from one of the packs they sell at Sephora.

This hair tie measures about 3 1/2 inches (folded), so I added a little bit of length to that (to account for the knot) and cut my elastic.

The length of elastic measured about 8-8 1/2 inches before I folded and knotted it. Make sure you take your wrist size into account when measuring your elastic. I have really small wrists, so I make my hair ties a little smaller.

I like to tie the knot about an inch or so from the ends of the elastic.

After you tie your knot, cut the ends of the elastic at a slight diagonal.

Take your lighter and quickly run it over the cut edges of the elastic. Don’t hold the flame to the elastic too long or it will catch on fire and let off a horrible burning smell! Trust me! I learned that real quick!!

The flame will melt the ends of the elastic together and keep the edges from fraying.

I used a candle lighter for this portion, because I was afraid of getting too close to the flame!

We’re going to repeat the same process for the planner bands. The only difference is that the planner bands are double the size!

Each band uses about 18 inches of elastic.

If you don’t have a planner you can make headbands like this instead! I’ve seen lots of girls wearing those, and they are super cute! 🙂

I ended up making nine hair ties!

I accidentally used too much elastic for my white, glitter planner band, so I only had enough leftover for one hair tie! 😦